All we like sheep

摘要

Gordon brown, Britain's prime min-ister-in-waiting, has been coasting around the country with audiences but no opponent. There is one appearance he is soon to make where the competition to impress is stiff. On May 26th he goes to Hay-on-Wye to talk about his new book, "Courage: Eight Portraits", and the tiny Welsh village will be a tough sell. Since America's former president Bill Clinton dubbed the annual literary festival there "the Woodstock of the mind" in 2001, the event has been a magnet for public figures. Mr Brown will be hard pressed to hold his own against memories of Mr Clinton's eloquence or that of his former vice-president Al Gore, the most recent transatlantic po-litical star to grace the Hay Festival.